The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-04-29

| OF sorrow and suffering creeping up to ono
feeti One may Ike ON rock ones self an
out of the path Of 1t till the spring floods o
the hurricane wave comes to sweep one away
or one may be afioat upon 1t; whichever 1t Il
1t Is quite impossible, II one has any heart, I
be Indifferent to it,"
"Then only the indifferent are happyr
ayes, the indifferent and the selfish; but
after all, II is the same thing; Indifference
the perfection of selfishness."
~ am afraid that there must he lots O
selHshness in the world, for there Is certainly
plenty of happiness, all evil things notwith
standing should have said that happincs
comes from goodness and from a sound diges
tion."
jess shook her head as she answered, ~ ma,
be wrong, but don't see how anybody whit
feels can be quite happy In world of sick
ness, suffering, slaughter and death. saw q
Kailr woman die yesterday and her children
CRYING over her. She was a poor creatur,
and had rough lot, but she loved her lift
and her children loved her. Who can bt
happy and thank God for his creation wher
he has just seen such thingi But there
Capt. Mel, my ideas are very crude and
dare say very wrong, and everybody has
thought them before; ut any rate, am moi
going to infict them on you. What is the
use OF ii" she went on, with laugh; "what
is the use Of anything2 The same old thoughts
passing through the same human minds from
year to year and century to century, Just as
the same clouds float across the same blue
sky. The clouds are born in the sky and the
thoughts are born in tie brain, and they both
end in tears and rearise in binding, bewilder-
tc tbah a<r -
thoughts and clouds. They arise out Of the
blue; they overshadow and break into storms
and tears, and then they are drawn up with
the blue again and the whole thing begins
afresh."
$50 you don't think that one can be happy
in the worlda" he asked.
II did not say that never said that. I
do not think that happiness is possible It is
possible if one can love somebody so hard
that one can quite forget ones self and every
thing else except that person, and it is pos
sible if one can sacrifice ones self for others.
There is no true happiness outside of love and
self sacrifice, or rather outside of love, for it
includes the other. That is gold, all the rest
is gilt"
allow do you know that?" he asked quickly.
"You have never been in love-"
"No," she answered, II have never been in
love like that but all the happiness I have
had in my life has come to me from loving.
l believe that love is the secret Of the world;
it is like the philosophers stone they used to
look for, and almost as hard to find, but when
one finds it it turns everything to gold. Per-
haps," she went on with a little laugh, "when
the angels left the earth they left us love be-
mind, that by it and through it we may climb
up to them again. 1t is the one thing that
lifts us above the brutes. Without love man
IS BRUTE and nothing but brute; with love
nc draws near to God When everything else
falls away the love will endure because it can
1ot die while there is any life, if it is true love,
'or it is immortal. Only it must be true
you see, it must be true"
He had got through her reserve now; the
ce of her manner broke up beneath the
warmth of her words, and her usually ina
passive face had caught the life and light
rom the eyes above and acquired certain
beauty of its own. He looked ut it, and
'ealized something of the untaught and ILL
egulated intensity and depth of the nature of
his curious girl. He caught her eyes and
hey moved him strangely, though he was not
IN emotional man, and was too old to expert
,nce spasmodic thrills at the chance chances
If pretty woman. He went toward her.
oolsing at her curiously.
ut would be worth living to be loved like
hat" he said, more to himself than to her.
She did not answer, but she let her eyes rest
IN his Indeed, she did more, for she put oil
Ter soul into them and gazed and gazed till
John Mel felt as though he were being mes
nerized. And as she did SO there rose up in
Ter breast a knowledge that il she willed it
he could gain this mans heart and hold it .
gainst all the world, for her nature was
tronger than his nature, and her mind, UNI
rained as it was, encompassed his mind and
ould pass over it and beat it down as the
Wind beats down tossing sea. All this she
earned in a moment, in the twinkling of an
we; she did not know how she knew it, but
he did know it as surely as she knew that the
'lue sky stretched overhead, and what is
nore he-for the moment, at any rate-knew
t too. 1t came on her as a shock and reve-
ation, like the tidings of great JOY or grief,
md for & moment left her heart empty of all
hinSs else.
She dropped her eyes suddenly.
81 think" she said, quietly, 8that we have
'een talking great deal of nonsense, and
hat l want to finish my sketch"
He got up and left her, for he had to get
lome, saying as he did SO that he thought
here was storm coming up, the air was SO
luiet, and the wind had fallen as it does be-
ore an African tempest, and presently, OH
ooking round, she saw him slowly climbing
he precipitous ascent to the table land above.
1t was glorious afternoon, such as one
ometimes gets in the African spring, although |
was SO intensely still. Everywhere were |
he proofs and evidences of life. The winter
vas over, and now, from the sadness and |
fertility of its withered age, sprang young and
ovely summer, clad in sunshine, be-diamoned |
With dew and fragrant with the breath of
lowers. jess lay back and looked up into the
infinite depths above. How blue they were,
nd how measurelessl She could not see the
ngry clouds that lay like visible omens ON
he horizon. See there, miles above her, was
ne tiny circling speck. 1t was a vulture,
her from its airy heights and de-
cending little to see if she were dead or only
leeping.
Involuntary. she shuddered. The bird of
cath reminded her of Death himself, also
angling high up there in the blue and wait
ng his opportunity to fall upon the sleeper.
hen her eyes fell upon a bough of the g,ori-
us Towering bush under which she lay. 1t
'as not more than four feet above her head,
ut she was SO still and motionless that a
sweled honeysucker came and lowered over
re flowers darting from one to another like